All The Small Things
by Grey Garnet
Summary: There's a few things about college that are just tops -you'll never get chances like this again. However there's this red-headed idiot that showed up and doesn't plan on leaving you alone. Not since he carried your unconscious body to some random trailer, anyway. Just when things in Nebraska were getting interesting, they got annoying, and Roxas can't wait to get Axel off his back.
1. Smells Like Teen Spirit

"Check those guys out." A nervous chuckle from Sora followed Riku's quip as he and Roxas turned their heads to look in the direction Riku gestured.

"They've got 'art major' written all over them. Hope they're used to minimum wage. "

Spoken like a real pre-law student, Roxas thought to himself. Not that Riku's words didn't have a bit of truth to them; You typically don't hear about the staggering success of someone with a B.A. in fine arts. At least, compared to what you heard about the kids in pre-law, anyway.

"Hey, Roxas, you still with us, man?"

The blonde was too busy scanning the benches surrounding the grass quarry in search of those deemed 'obvious art majors' by Riku to notice he was holding the football they'd been tossing captive. If Sora hadn't called out to him and dragged him back to reality, he easily could've stood there holding the damn thing for a good twenty more minutes, staring like an idiot.

"It's like they don't even _care_ about their futures," Riku carried on like a jackass, earning him the ball back from Roxas with a bit more 'oomph' then was probably necessary. Not that the older teen noticed, of course. Riku had always been a bit more built than Roxas and Sora. It didn't bother him. Not anymore, anyway, not like it did in high school, where everything was a competition. "They'll barely be able to support themselves. Forget a family."

Christ, the more Riku opened his big mouth about it, the more the scowl on Roxas' face grew. Why couldn't he just drop it already?

"Riku," Sora interjected, the same childish pout on his face that Roxas was beginning to suspect his step brother had been born with. "Come on. That's a bit harsh," Roxas wasn't entirely sure if Sora genuinely disagreed, or if he was just trying to stick up for him. Either way, he was glad he said something to dilute the ever thickening cloud of douche emitting from Riku. And just like that, it became a two-man game of catch between Sora and Riku, featuring a debate on the usefulness of an art major. Not that Roxas minded being excluded. If you hung around Sora and Riku long enough, you find out this sort of thing happens all the time. The two of them often got sucked into their own little conversations, usually forgetting about Roxas or whomever else happened to be around at the time, at least until they needed an argument settled by a poor, unsuspecting third party. Whenever they started talking like a married couple as opposed to best friends, Roxas usually would take the opportunity to get food, slip away, or in this case, people watch.

It was the first half way decent day of spring, or rather, what Roxas hoped would be the start of spring. It had been a gruelingly long, surprisingly dry, and a 'balls get frostbite' kind of winter, and Roxas along with the entire population of Nebraska was ready for spring. Then again, in this area of the Midwest, you could have seventy degree weather with sunny skies and a gentle breeze one day, and jack frost rubbing his ass on your window pane the next day with a fresh blanket of snow and a wind chill of negative twenty. Bitter cold winters and scorching summers. That's what you get when you live in Omaha. Consider yourself lucky if they decide to let spring and fall a nice, three week run, then you're back to either the sun's surface or the center of a polar vortex for what seems like half the year.

Anyway, being the first mild day without winds strong enough to rip your clothes off, Riku, Sora, Roxas, and essentially the entire student body of the University of Nebraska decided to take advantage of the sun and spend some time outside. At least until another inevitable wave of snow would blanket the campus and send everyone back to their seasonal depression and irrational, weather related rage.

"But you could say that about _any_ major! Why do you have to be so_ judgmental _ about everything?"

"You're being to sensitive. I'm just a realist," Despite Riku's unrivaled ability to be an incredible douchebag and Sora whining about it, Roxas managed to stay in a pretty good mood. Didn't seem like much could bring him down on a day like this. "Just ask Roxas. Bet he agrees. He's smart."

"No, I'm _pretty sure_ he disagrees. Strongly."

Roxas had finally spotted who he thought Riku was blatantly judging, finally. He was so absorbed in staring at them he didn't even realize he was about to be dragged into Sora and Riku's debate. You couldn't blame him, really. They really did seem like…quite the characters. There were five of them, three guys and two girls, and each of them…well, honestly, they did sort of scream 'art major', Roxas silently admitted, begrudgingly. The girls were both slender, lithe things. One, slightly taller than the other, was blonde, her hair cut short to what one might describe as a normal pixie cut…assuming you could get past her slicked back, antennae-like bangs which gave her a sort of predatory demeanor. The other girl, the shorter and seemingly younger, looked a bit more approachable with short, raven hair gently framing her delicate features. At least she seemed approachable when compared to the boisterous, and frankly violent looking blonde. The two were dressed like…well, they had a bit of a hipster-ish look to them, the blonde wearing what Roxas was pretty sure were lens-less thick rims, and the darker haired girl had an electric blue feather tied in her hair, just behind her ear. They were pretty, all things considered, assuming you could get passed the fake glasses and neon skinny jeans on one, and an Old 97s t-shirt and feathers in her hair on the other.

"Is he even listening?"

"..I dunno. Think he's checking out those girls?"

"Those _art major girls_? Christ, I hope not,"

"Oh, my _god_ you're such an unbelievable dickwad! What the hell did I just say!?"

Not that Roxas was 'anti-hipster', nor did he really have an opinion about how they dressed. Just, in his experience, more often than not the people who _did _dress like that had a 'my way or the highway' kind of mentality. Riku might get along with them better than he thought, Roxas thought with a bit of a smirk.

"Roxas, come on, buddy, snap out of it,"

"Don't answer him, Rox! If you make eye contact you'll turn to.."

"…Turn to?"

"I had something. Then…I lost it. Sorry."

"God is your head filled with _air_?"

"Shut the hell up, asshole!"

Was that Sora and Riku screaming at each other tugging at his subconscious? Whatever, not his problem. The artsy-hipsters were much more interesting. And the guys seemed even more flashy then the girls. One of them was iliterally/i playing the guitar. Which wasn't all that strange, really. It was just the sort of thing you expected to see in college brochures, or in the movies, but no, apparently people iactually did/i haul guitars around on campus just to sit around and strum the same three cords again and again to get attention of girls who didn't know any better. And from the sight of the giggling girls stealing glances at him whenever he smiled, it was working.

God, they seemed to get flashier and flashier the further Roxas looked, finding the second man was even more dramatic than the first. His hair was _blue_, for one thing, and was long, trailing down to just above his chest. His expression didn't look like that of a man who dyed his hair an unnatural color, no, he looked like someone who might get along with Riku; serious and stern. He had a sort of…was it a tattoo, or a scar? Roxas wasn't entirely sure, and couldn't make it out from this distance, but the man definitely had something strewn across his face. Roxas hoped it was a tattoo, at least. A scar like that couldn't have been pleasant to obtain. Not wanting to think much more on how one gets a scar like that, Roxas turned his attention to the last, and most obnoxious looking of them all.

He had red hair. And not the kind of hair you'd find on gingers, but _red_ hair. Bright, fire truck red. From the looks of it he also had some sort of tattoos on his face, but Roxas was too far away to tell. Makeup, maybe? And if he thought the blonde girl's hair looked dangerous, this guy was in a whole new league. How on earth did he make it through an entire semester without seeing _him_ on campus? The man stood out like a sore thumb.

"Roxas, blink if you can hear me."

"Throw him the ball, he hasn't had it in a while."

God, if anyone screamed 'art major', it was this guy. He was tall, too, and ungodly thin. Maybe the reason Roxas had never seen him before was because the man damn near disappeared if he turned sideways. Something about him was just…transfixing, as if he was looking at some rare, near extinct animal on display. And he was…waving? Roxas turned, looking to see if he was waving at someone behind him and…no. How could he be waving at anyone else anyway, only he, Sora and Riku were down in the pit of the quarry throwing a ball around. Who waves like that anyway? Wiggling his fingers with a big, stupid grin on his face. He didn't know him, why the hell was he waving?

Roxas was too busy glaring, refusing to wave and cursing himself for being so humiliatingly obvious about staring at the group of them from the middle of what was basically an open field. Taking what he assumed to be sarcastic waving as his cue to mind his own damn business, he finally tuned back in to whatever the hell Sora and Riku were yelling about. The last thing he heard was "Roxas, heads up!" before the pointed end of the football flew into his temple at what may as well have been five hundred miles an hour.

His vision went blurry, then black. Just like that. He felt his legs give out and heard the suddenly concerned shouts of Sora and Riku as they ran towards him. He couldn't hear much, just muffled shouts that soon faded to nothing as he hit the ground, slipping into unconsciousness.


	2. Don't You Know Who I Think I Am?

Fuck, did his head hurt. Riku certainly hadn't held back with that last pass. Hell, a little bit of practice and formal training, he might have made a half-way decent football player. Not that Roxas gave a damn about Riku's athletic career at the moment; he was more concerned with not developing a concussion. You know, typical college stressors. Groaning, Roxas sat up, slowly, propping himself up on an elbow and gingerly running a hand through his hair, searching for a bump. There it was, as predicted, just behind his left temple; the tender and likely bruised skin that stung to the touch. Hissing, Roxas' face contorted into a sour expression, when it occurred to him that this was _not_ his bed.

"Keep making that face and it'll get stuck like that,"

That voice wasn't his brother's, and it certainly wasn't Riku's. In fact, he didn't recognize the voice at all. Who was that, and more importantly, where the hell was he? His vision was a bit blurry at first, but after clenching his eyes shut a few times his world came into focus, and Roxas began looking around frantically, for once more disgruntled than he usually was. "W-Where…?" He began, staring angrily down what he now realized was a small mobile home.

The walls were a silver metal, and had it not been for the weird, hippie style decorations hanging off the walls, Roxas imagined the place would echo annoyingly. The bed was narrow, and he supposed it had to be, considering it was a trailer, but it was comfortable enough. Then again, it was a bit difficult to focus on how comfortable a bed was when you were lying in a stranger's bed having recently had a football drilled into your skull.

There were lots of colors, hanging around as well; even the lights were just those shitty little paper lanterns you could buy at any party favor store that made the entire place look orange. Leaning against the bed was a strange, guitar-like instrument Roxas hadn't seen before, and he was pretty sure the bag sticking out of the sound hole was full of pot.

"Uh, yeah, sorry about the mess," the voice said again, causing Roxas to finally stop looking around the trailer and look at who the hell dragged him here. "…Well, it's not my mess, but I figured I should say something. How you feeling, kid?"

"Who the hell-" Hell bent on getting some answers, Roxas stood up and demanded the strangers name. Or at least tried to, anyway. He stood up a little too quick and ended up flopping back down on the mattress, steadying himself on the bed's frame.

"Hey, take it easy. You're gonna want to take a minute," The man advised, clearly amused. He was tall, and ungodly thin. And his hair was a bright, fire engine red…

Roxas blinked in realization. He was that guy, wasn't he? The one who'd waved at him back in the court yard. Right before….wait, what happened again? "..What happened?" Roxas voiced in a groan, going back to rubbing his head again.

"You may as well just watch," The red-head said before tossing both a phone and a shitty, impromptu ice-pack consisting of a zip lock bag filled with half melted ice wrapped in a paper towel on the mattress. He seemed so blatantly amused with Roxas' attitude, which annoyed the blonde to no end. Reluctantly, he picked up his phone and hit play, the video named 'spacey kid gets owned' already loaded up and ready to go.

Frowning at the title, Roxas watched himself get victimized by Riku's merciless throwing arm, followed by the screen playing the moment of impact over and over again set to some sort of over-used techno beat. Great, now his temple and his pride could be the founding members of the 'bruised and damaged; don't fucking touch me' association.

"It's only gotten about five thousand hits over the last hour, so, all things considered, it's not that bad," the increasingly douchey man went on, making a lazy gesture at the ice pack in encouragement. "Go on. How big do you plan on letting that swell?"

"God, shut up," Roxas muttered after shooting him a look of pure resentment and tossing his phone aside. "Who are you? And where are we?" he demanded, wondering why Riku and Sora would just _let_ some random guy drag him off after being knocked unconscious. Thanks, _friends_.

"Oh, feisty," he said, sounding more like a predator than anything else. "My name's Axel. And you're Roxas. And this…is not my trailer," he explained, with a stupid, wide grin plastered across his face as if his explanation deserved vast amounts of praise. "..And you should be thanking me," he went on while Roxas' temper soared to new heights. "Everybody else was recording you. At least I tried to help. Besides, what's the point in recording it anyway? At least fifteen people were already doing it. And they'll probably get a better quality video too, you know?"

"Oh? Really? Well thanks for deciding to haul my lifeless corpse to your damn i_trailer_/i in lieu of _recording_ my finest moment. Really, man, _thanks_," Roxas snapped, glaring daggers at his newest 'acquaintance', for lack of better words.

"Hey!" Axel's sudden serious tone claimed Roxas' attention, and the man looked at him with such…authority. Not something you'd expect from a man with bright red hair and…were those tattoos? "..I told you," He continued, facing Roxas and crossing thin arms across his chest, glowering down at him. "..it's not my trailer. Weren't you listening? That's pretty rude, you know."

Roxas just...stared at him for a moment, with the most incredulous, are-you-fucking-kidding-me expression Roxas had conjured to date. "…Yeah, I need to leave," He was not about to waste any more of his life on this idiot. "You just stay. And I'll…go." God, this was not helping his headache.

"Alright, alright, but hang on a second, just…calm your jets," Before attempting the oddly difficult task of standing, Axel was pulling up a stool in front of him and getting much, much closer than Roxas would've liked. He said to 'hold still', and Roxas promptly did not, scooting back a bit on the mattress and eyeing him warily.

"Hey, don't just-"

"Calm down, blondie, I'm just trying to look at your eyes. I'm Pre-Med," he explained, as if Roxas should've been aware of this. He twirled a small, hand held flash light between his bony fingers and arched an eyebrow at Roxas. "You wearing contacts?"

"..Uh...no, I'm not," Roxas finally gave in, and scooted up a bit closer. Before long Axel was instructing him to 'look up', or to 'follow the light', and this and that. His hands were cold; which, Roxas supposed, was to be expected for one so long and thin. He probably didn't have the best circulation.

"Damn," he said eventually, causing Roxas to launch into a panic.

"What? What is it!?" He demanded, pulling away enough to give him the full effect of his discontent.

"Nothing, nothing, jeez," he explained, holding his palms up after clicking off his flashlight with a smirk. "Your eyes are just alarmingly blue. Very nice."

"Fuck off," And with one last look of disgust, Roxas forced himself up through sheer force of will and shoved past Axel, headed for the door. At this point, he'd do anything to get out of this hell on wheels. He ignored the heat rising up the back of his neck at Axel's compliment. The hit must be making him dizzy, or something. Anyway, once he opened the door and sat outside, he found Sora and Riku just…hanging out. They were sitting in fold out chairs with a few of those other 'probably art majors' he'd noticed earlier today; drinking, laughing, having a good time. "Really? Guys?!"

"Roxas! You feeling okay? You really got hit hard. Oh, and I told Mom," Sora was quick to set down his hard lemonade and come running to his side, conveying limitless, genuine concern for his twin. "..Really, man. You okay?" He asked, resting a hand on his shoulder while he stepped down from the slightly elevated trailer.

"Yeah...yeah, I'll be fine. Just tired," Roxas muttered, wanting nothing more than to rip Sora a new one for letting random people damn near kidnap him. But at least he and Riku stuck around while he was with Axel. "..You mind if we head back? I just want to.."_be away from here. Be far, far away from him._ "…you know. Lie down."

"Yeah, he's gonna need rest," Axel called from the trailer's door frame, leaning against it with false sense of pride. "..and keep him hydrated, you got that? Should be feeling better by tomorrow."

"Right, got it!" Sora said with a determined nod, as if he'd been entrusted with a task so grave it could alter he future of humanity. He kept close to Roxas' side, in case he lost his balance or needed something to lean on. Really, he was feeling much better with the fresh air, but Sora insisted. "..alright, let's get you home. Riku! Come on, let's go."

Riku seemed pleased to set the down the beer he was probably pretending to enjoy, muttering 'it's about time' under his breath as he stood. "Sorry about that, Rox," he said while joining them, giving Roxas a hard and 'good natured' slap on the back, right between his shoulder blades.

The hit made him see stars for a moment, his vision blurring. He shot Riku a glare; Was he pissed or something? Or was he really that oblivious to his own strength? Anyway, before long the three of them waved their goodbyes (mostly Sora) and they were on their way back to the dorms. Finally.

"Oh, Roxas," Sora began, fishing through his pockets for a moment before handing Roxas his phone. "You dropped it back at the court yard."

"Thanks," Roxas said, and as luck would have it, it buzzed the moment it hit his hand with a text from a number Roxas didn't recognize.

_Now you owe me one. See you, pretty boy._

What? How the hell did Axel get his number? Well, at least, Roxas assumed it was Axel; it was all that made sense at the time. Roxas scoffed, angrily shoving his phone into his pocket, his face burning with…Anger. Right. Definitely anger.

"You okay? You're burning up," Sora commented, looking him over with concern as they finally reached the dorms.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Roxas responded quickly, wanting nothing more than to just lay down. "..You didn't tell Kairi, did you?"

"No, but she's probably heard. Tons of people were taking videos. It's all over campus," Riku explained with an obviously amused smirk. The bastard.

Great. Just...fantastic. Well, at least they were home, Roxas thought as they climbed the stairs and made it to their room. "..Alright, whatever, just…" he began, struggling to form a proper sentence. His head was _splitting_. "Look, if she comes over just…let me sleep, alright?"

"No promises." Sora said, flopping down on the couch. Roxas made for his room as fast as possible, closing the door behind him and collapsing into bed. He fell asleep almost instantly, all the while those two little words floating around in his head.

_Pretty boy._

* * *

'All The Small Things' - Blink182  
'Smells Like Teen Spirit' - Nirvana

'Don't You Know Who I Think I Am?' - Fall Out Boy

Naming it a song title because I'm a creative piece of shit.

So, uuhh apparently sitars don't have sound holes? And i had already written that scene when I found that out, and I really really wanted Demyx's sitar to be filled with pot, so I I guess this one does. Or maybe it's a ukulele. Whatever.

Anyway! Thanks for reading! Please review if you feel like it, or don't. Big, giant thanks to Emily, my editor for giving this a look over before I posted it. You can contact her via reallycoldcheese on tumblr. She's a fantastic editor, if anyone is looking.

If you'd like to contact me, you can send me a message here or through my blog at axelscurves on tumblr. Thank you, and expect an update soon!

See you next time!


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